Oil industry eyes western Larimer County for new oil field

Nov. 21, 2012

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At least one oil company is eying public land in the scenic and remote Laramie River Valley in western Larimer County as a site for drilling a new oil and gas field.

The company, whose name is being withheld as confidential by the federal government, has nominated nearly 2,500 acres of public land on Bull Mountain to be leased in the May 2013 U.S. Bureau of Land Management oil and gas lease sale.

The land, managed mostly by the BLM’s Kremmling office, is about 12 miles northwest of Red Feather Lakes. The federal land is fully open to the public.

The name of the company seeking to drill Bull Mountain will be kept confidential by the BLM until three days after the May lease sale, BLM spokeswoman Vanessa Lacayo said.

Amoco and three other oil companies have explored the Bull Mountain area for oil and gas in the past, but there are no oil and gas wells currently operating in western Larimer County.

Five exploratory oil and gas wells were drilled on Bull Mountain between 1955 and 2001, but all were abandoned or closed, Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission records show.

The BLM is currently considering the nominated parcels for inclusion in the May lease sale, and a final decision is expected Feb. 8, Lacayo said.

The agency conducted an environmental assessment of the lease sale and issued a report on Nov. 14, saying the leasing will have no significant environmental impact.

Before drilling and fracking can begin in the area, the state must issue the company a drilling permit. No drilling permits for western Larimer County are currently pending with the state.

The May BLM lease sale also includes an 80-acre parcel near the sand hills in Jackson County, just west of the Medicine Bow Mountains.